Alibaba invests big in media company

Chinese employees enter the headquarters of Alibaba Group in Hangzhou city, East China's Zhejiang province, May 7, 2014.[Photo/IC]

HANGZHOU - Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba has invested heavily in Hong Kong-listed China Vision Media Group Ltd (CVMG), becoming the media company's biggest shareholder, CVMG announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Alibaba paid HK$6.24 billion for 59.32 percent of CVMG's shares, the statement said.

Liu Chunning, Alibaba Group vice-president, will serve as president of CVMG, while Dong Ping, the media group's former president, will become adviser to the company. Chinese action movie star Jet Li will act as CVMG's independent non-executive director, according to the statement.

The company will be renamed "Alibaba Film Group Co Ltd" accordingly, a previous statement said.

CVMG has previously obtained investment priorities in the movies of Hong Kong film directors Wong Kai-wai and Peter Ho-sun Chan, as well as Hong Kong actor Stephen Chow. It also signed deals with an entertainment company in March to invest in five films.

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